~ Department of Hu...;.nities and Social Sciences, llT Kh,.;.,.

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English for Technical Writing (HS63002)
~·
. Mid-semester Examination - Spring 2013

Time: 2bours .Fulhnatks: ·50

-.· >.

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A. Read the following passage by Adrienne Hunter and ~~t~~pt th~ que~~ions which_
follow: · · · • ·. · · , ·
(10+5+3+2= 20 matks)
·Certain urban.problems·l3!e common to .both·.developed and· developing countries which.,
include•poor-~housing, unemployment and-·problems connected-witktraffic (1) however
(2) there are •problems- which are very peculiar to developing economies (3) and--this is
due to the fact that developing.countries n:eed to create a basic infrastructufe,(4) which~is·
necessary:for industrialization (5) 'and consequently for econorrlic growth•(6) in fact (7) it
is the provision of this infrastructure which constitutes the.urbruuzation process·itself:(8) ·
and this infrastructure (9) or rather the provision of this infrastructure• (10) may have.
undesrred effects on the economy as a whole (ll) there can be.five main:consequences of
this uncontrolled urbanization (12) in the first instance (13) there is the problem of the~
migration of people from the country to _the city (14) people living in the country often
see the city as a mor~ desirable place to live (15) whether they are living in ~eveloping or
developed countries (16) however, the problem is much more serious in a developing
country because there are (17) in,fact {18) more people_ who wished to migrate to the city-
·(19) now the.Jact of people migrating to ,the city causes a certain depopulation of rural
areas (20) and~the result of this is a decrease' in the production of food and in the supply
of food to the country as a whole (21) this in tum can also lead to a rise in prices because
of the law of supply and demand (22) as a result of people moving to the citY, there is a
high urban population growth rate (23) now this isn't due only to the-fact of more adults
moving to the city (24) but can also be due to traditions of these people from-the country
(25) who (26) perhaps from rural areas (27) have a tradition of large families and so on
. (28) thus the' population of the cities increases with these numerous children of large
f~lies (29) this leads to a fourth consequence (30) which is a dramatic pressure on.the
supply of social services in urban areas· (31) particularly -(32) services related to. health
and education· in relation. to health services (33) we can 'See that there are endemic
diseases which could be made worse by ovet~rowding (34) peopl~ coming from~the
country to the city (35) and for example in the stresses on services in education (36) with~
. more children, there .is a need for more schools and more teachers and so on (37) a fifth
area which is affected by .uncontrolled urbanization is that. of the labor supply (38) often
uncontrolled urbanization leads to an excess of labor supply in tll;e ~ities, and this can
lead in turn to an informalkind of labor activity which mzght be called low-productivity

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 activities (39) for example, one ,can often find in large urban areas, in a developing
- country, children watching cars while their owners are doing something else an,d then
asking for tips w:hen the owners return-(40} this is really a sort'of undesirable type of
labor.(41) these are in fact the main consequences of uncontrolled-l!rbaniZ(ltion.
\ '0 three. possible policie~. could be. developed. tQ 'stem this 'kind of tmcontrolleq ...
' •••

-urbanizatioil in· developing countries, The first on~ would be to·promote a .more equal ·
... fl;

land qistribution. In this way, fanners would be more motivated ,to stay on the ,land and
be
thus able to feeq their families-J11ore adequately. A second policy would be to improve
the supply of sociaf services-~ the rural areas, particularly in--the field of health -and
education. Country.people oft~n mqve,to the city because they~feel that these services are
., better in· the. citY. A· third .pos·sible . policy would ·be . to give financial assistance to
agriculture, spe~ially to the small landowner. These tPJ.:'ee·types 9f.policie·s,cotJ,ld.-help to
reduce the problem of urba!!ization-which is felt in particular in developing countries:

(~) Wnte a.paraphrase of the text in,about 200 words. ¥our paraphrase must also
quote_some phrases and a couple ofsentences.directly from tbe text .
(b) Write a precis of the passage in about 100 words. ·
· © G1ve the central idea ofthe passage in not more than-30 words.
(d) Suggest a-suitable title for.the:passage.

B. In the first Part

oLthe text-given above, most of t}!e .punctuation marks.have .been
removed, .and ,fue.pauses are ·indicated -by numbers. ·From· the list below, s~lect the
appropria~e option against each-pause: (10 rparks) ·
.One is .being done for you: 41 ----- iv ·

. (i) comma {ii) semi-colon (iii).colon (iv) p~riod with the foll~wing letter
in.capital (v) noppnctuafion mark

C Select the right option-- A orB- for the underlined poftioil in the followiqg .
sentences: (10 marks).
1. Whe~ a-friend dies, part of yourself dies .too. A die~-, tbo B~ dies too
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2. We·took:~pl!otographs of the patrohsaint ofnail.:bite_rs the .:Venus de Milo.
~
·A: na:il:.biters -.the B. nail..biters, the
I 3: Our fr..ree,_children- Lary,,Curly:and Moe have d~ciqe~to enter show business; •
A.· Moe~ have B. Moe -have

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 4. Last week I read "The Catbird Seat" a short story by James· Thurber.
A. "The Catbird S~at", a-shortstory : B. "The Catbird'Seat"· -a short story
. .
5. When in doubt,_murnble when intrquble,_delegate. :
~-mumble, Vfhert B ...·mumbJe; when ..
.. ·, ,.
, ....... ·
': · ·' 6. An American's devotion to-McDonald's restscin part on unifo~itie~ ~sociatea.· _
· with all McDonald~s·rest~urants.setting, architeCture; food, ambience; acts, and-
utterances.
A. restaurants: setting
B. ·restaurants - setting
7. Lila who lives in a. trailer. with a parakeet and some;scrappy -dogs and cats; has
been the town fire warden for almost 30 years.
_A. Lia who B. Lila, who ·

.8. Sb_me players hit the ball and stand, dejected, waiting for it to land others tum
away and leave it to the caddy.
A. · land, others B. land; others

9. Hurling; which has been the n_ational sport oflreland since legend<PJ' times, is to
American eyes like a.soccer game played at ice hockey speed~
A. ice-hockey B. ice hockey

I 0. Guiding the ball through the upper chutes, down a run-over lane, off the slingshot
bUmpers to the flippers, I cradled it there, bouncing it back and forth un~l I had a
·perfect shot through the lighted spinner.
A. forth; until B. forth, until

D. Select the correct option -·A, B- or C - for each of the sentences below~ (5 marks)
1. It is mind after all which does the work of the world.-
'After all' should be A prec~ded and_ followed by a comma 8 No comma is_ needed.
2. Friends, companions, relatives all deserted him.
' . .
Betw~en 'relatives' and '~li' there should be Aa colon 8 a:dash C no punctuation ·
. .. '''

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 i The echoes,of the storm Which was then raised I stilr hear grumbling round me.
The sentence has A a restrictive .8 a non-restrictive relative clause..
4.-Two independen~ clauses occurring together without a conjunction or a punctuation
is ·called A a r~n-on_ sentence 8 a complex .sentence ~ a <:On'i'pound Sef\tence ·.
S.- ''I ~0uld rather die" he·exclaimed "thanjoin the oppressors of my country."
. In the sente11c;:e:he exclaimed~-A should be prece~ded and followed b.y~a .comma. 8 need
not be preceded odonowed by any punctuation· ma_rk.

E. Select the correct option for the following sentences~ A for right and B for wrong -
depending on whether the numbers in them~are presented correctly: {5 marks).
I. 1. 345 pr:oducts were received last month:
2. Add 2 milligrams rose-water to the mix.
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3. The road is at least 5 kms long.
4. The exams started at-9-am.
5. five groups-were formed and each group-consisted of 5 members:
6. There are 30 samples, each with a size pf 5.
7. We covered adistance of L5.meter.
8. Only five kg sugar was purchased.
9. I walked for'lQ•;kffi. yesterday. .
10. 20th century movies did not show much violence.

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